The present invention relates to a vacuum-cleaning apparatus or tool for cleaning furniture or other upholstered surfaces.
To clean upholstered surfaces, for example of upholstered furniture, seat and back surfaces of the seats of vehicles, etc., that are provided with a textile covering, vacuum-cleaning tools are used that are connected via a suction conduit or hose to a stationary or portable vacuum-cleaning unit. Since these upholstered surfaces predominantly have to be cleaned dry, the vacuum-cleaning tool must be provided with a brush unit to achieve a thorough cleaning effect. As a result, not only is dirt taken up by the stream of intake suction air, but dirt particles are also mechanically loosened from the upholstery covering. To clean the gaps or spaces between the seat and/or back cushions, it is necessary to have a flat vacuum nozzle, a so-called gap-cleaning nozzle, that can reach into the gaps and spaces between individual adjacent portions of cushions, where dust and dirt can settle particularly easily. Such a gap-cleaning nozzle is necessary because the vacuum nozzles that are used for cleaning the upholstered surfaces are too large to be inserted into the narrow and difficult-to-reach gaps or spaces between the cushions. On the other hand, however, the gap-cleaning nozzle is not suitable for cleaning the upholstered surfaces. For this reason, with the heretofore known vacuum-cleaning apparatus the vacuum nozzle and the gap-cleaning nozzle must be exchanged relatively frequently during a cleaning process. This repeated exchange of the two vacuum nozzles is extremely tedious, and makes the cleaning of upholstered furniture and vehicle seats very time consuming. This has a particularly detrimental effect on commercial cleaning costs. To avoid these drawbacks, a vacuum-cleaning tool was proposed (German Offenlegungsschrift 20 52 606) where the entire nozzle body is pivotable about a connection adapter that can be detachably connected to the vacuum conduit. The nozzle body is partially embodied as a flat nozzle having a brush unit, and partially as a gap-cleaning nozzle. However, this nozzle construction has the drawback that the fixed brush unit of the flat nozzle can be moved over the surface that is to be cleaned only with considerable expenditure of force by the operator, since the stiff bristles can catch very severely in the textile covering of the upholstered surface This leads to easy tiring of the operator and to inadequate cleaning results, especially during commercial cleaning, for example of the upholstered seats in buses, taxis, passenger railway cars, etc. A particular drawback is that the gap-cleaning nozzle projects relatively far beyond the other part of the nozzle body. As a result, the operator frequently bumps the gap-cleaning nozzle against furniture, or gets caught on the latter. This is particularly troublesome, and requires increased attentiveness in order to avoid damages. Finally, the shifting of the vacuum nozzle from the flat nozzle to the gap-cleaning nozzle, and vice versa, requires a relatively high expenditure of energy because in order to accomplish this shift, the entire vacuum-cleaning nozzle has to be pivoted.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a vacuum-cleaning apparatus of the aforementioned general type where via a straightforward and easy operation, a strong stream of intake or suction air can be produced in the gap-cleaning nozzle for an extensive and thorough cleaning of even narrow, difficult-to-reach spaces or gaps.